John William Chesser SSC (6 September 1862 – 29 June 1921) was a Scottish solicitor and Tory politician who served as

Lord Provost of Edinburgh The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Edinburgh is elected by and is the convener of the City of Edinburgh Council and serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city, ex officio the Lord-Lieutenant of ...

from 1919 to 1921. The suburb of south-west

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

known as Chesser was named after him.

Life

He was born on 6 September 1862 at 19 Graham Street off Lauriston Place in Edinburgh the son of Ann Stennett and her husband, John Chesser. The large Georgian house backed onto the Edinburgh Cattle Market. This relationship probably inspired his lifelong interest in

cattle market In economics, a market is a composition of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations or infrastructures whereby parties engage in Exchange (economics), exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets re ...

s. He was educated at

George Heriot's School George Heriot's School is a private primary and secondary day school on Lauriston Place in the Lauriston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. In the early 21st century, it has more than 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff, and 80 non-teaching staff. It was ...

100m from his home. He studied law at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

. In 1890 he was living as a lawyer at 1 Chalmers Crescent. He rose to be a Solicitor of the Supreme Court (SSC) in 1895. In 1911 he was living at 14 North Park Terrace, a terraced house overlooking

Inverleith Inverleith (Scottish Gaelic language, Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Lìte'') is an inner suburb in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, on the fringes of the central region of the city. Its neighbours include Trinity, Edinburgh, Trinity to the north a ...

playing fields, and had offices at 45 Frederick Street in the

New Town New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...

. In 1912 he was Convenor of the Edinburgh Markets and organised the building of the new

slaughterhouse In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir (), is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a mea ...

s, markets and

corn exchange A corn exchange is a building where merchants trade grains. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley; in the United States these buildings were called grain exchanges. Such trade was common in towns ...

in south-west Edinburgh. In 1919 he was elected

Lord Provost A lord provost () is the convenor of the local authority, the civic head and the lord-lieutenant of one of the principal cities of Scotland. The office is similar to that of a lord mayor. Only the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Stirlin ...

in succession to John Lorne MacLeod. He died in office on 29 June 1921. His post as Lord Provost was filled by Sir Thomas Hutchison. Chesser's death in office deprived him of the two usual honours of his final year in office: a portrait in his ceremonial robes and a knighthood which would have been scheduled for the

1922 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1922 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. They were published on 30 December 1921. The recipients of honours are displayed her ...

. He is buried next to his parents in

Cramond Cramond Village (; ) is a village and suburb in the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland, at the mouth of the River Almond where it enters the Firth of Forth. The Cramond area has evidence of Mesolithic, Bronze Age and Roman activity. In modern ...

churchyard. Chesser's birthplace was renamed Keir Street in 1922 to avoid confusion with Graham Street in the newly absorbed

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

. It was demolished around 1970 to make room for an extension to

Edinburgh College of Art Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...

Family

He married Dorothy Simm (1858-1931).Chesser grave in Cramond They were parents to Ian Chesser.

References

1862 births 1921 deaths Politicians from Edinburgh People educated at George Heriot's School Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish solicitors Lord provosts of Edinburgh {{Scotland-bio-stub